The Washington Capitals came into the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft in need of new, talented players. They managed to find three, two coming from their first two draft picks and one by trade.

Before Washington ever made their first selection, they made a trade with the Dallas Stars acquiring veteran center Mike Ribeiro giving the Stars center Cory Eakin and their second round pick (#54) in this draft. With Dallas Ribeiro recorded 18 goals and 45 assists last season, he has played 12 seasons in the NHL (Canadians, Stars). Ribeiro is hoped to be a second line center behind Nicklas Backstrom or a replacement for free agent forward Alexander Semin, and also to help out on shootouts.

In the midst of this first round of the 2012 NHL Draft eight of the first ten players picked were defensemen allowing center/right wing Filip Forsberg of Sweden, who was in the top five in most mock drafts coming into this first round, to fall to the 11th pick which was the Caps. The Caps got that pick out of a trade with the Colorado Avalanche in the Semyon Varlamov trade from back in July of last year.

With their original first round pick, pick #16, the Caps decided to go for the big winger in Tom Wilson of Canada (Plymouth) who is 6 foot 4 inches tall and can still be a scorer. Plus he had 141 penalty minutes last season which could add some toughness to the Caps lineup someday.

Tomorrow’s continuation of the 2012 NHL Draft will be at 10 a.m. on NHL channel with rounds 2-7. The Caps picks in the rest of the draft are: #77, #100, #107, #137, #167, #195, and #197.